


The Golden Pavilion

by wheel_pen



Series: Loose Gems [17]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Slavery, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 20:32:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3909655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A barbarian speaks up for his enemy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Golden Pavilion

**Author's Note:**

> The bad words are censored; that’s just how I do things.   
> Inherent in slavery and other forms of subjugation are dubious consent, unhealthy relationships, and violence.  
> I hope you enjoy this original work, which was inspired by many different stories.
> 
> For visual reference, Errico is played by Ian Somerhalder.

Snow Feather stared down from her throne at the man cringing on the ground before her, her expression severe under the elaborate headdress. Occasionally he dared to glance up and was dazzled by the opulence surrounding him; but that was the idea.

“I took you into my heart, Shen,” she began, her tone fierce. “And when it was time for you to leave, I was very generous with you. Was I not generous?” she prompted.

“Yes, mistress, very generous,” he stammered quickly. Every eye in the room was riveted to the scene—except for when they flickered over to a strange figure standing off to the side, who watched the main players with a frown etched on his face.

“And all I asked was that you not make trouble, that you live quietly,” Snow Feather continued, her words pounding the man into the ground. “Yet here you are, making trouble.”

“What’s she saying?” Errico hissed to his companion, Pietro. The slave tried to translate quietly, while not missing any of the action. The foreigner had made more progress in their language than Pietro had expected, but the formal court speech was still beyond him.

“Yet once more I am generous,” Snow Feather proclaimed, “and I allow you to explain yourself.” There was a pause. “Explain yourself!” she snapped, making everyone in the room jump.

“Mistress, all I do,” Shen stuttered in fear, “I do for love of you.” He dared to turn his face up to hers beseechingly, for an instant.

“For love of me?” Snow Feather repeated, obviously skeptical. “You attack my new favorite out of _love_?” Heads turned towards Errico, who shifted uncomfortably at the attention.

“It-it breaks my heart to see you with another,” Shen confessed brokenly. It was difficult to tell how sincere his words were; fear was obviously the overriding emotion now. “I desire only to be with you again—“

He was cut off by a tearful sniffle from Snow Feather, and murmurs rippled through the crowd at this display of emotion. “Oh, Shen, you sadden me so,” she declared. Concern written on his face Errico started to go for her but was detained by Pietro and Lord Tian. “I thought you truly loved me. But now I see that you loved only the privilege I brought you.”

“No, no, mistress, I loved only you!” Shen insisted frantically.

“Let me go!” Errico hissed at Pietro and Lord Tian. “She’s upset!” And he didn’t know precisely why, since Pietro had been too busy restraining him to translate.

“Hush! Be still!” Lord Tian ordered him under his breath, glancing around to see if they were attracting much attention.

“If you truly loved me, Shen,” Snow Feather told him sorrowfully, “you would want me to be happy. Even if I was not with you. Do you still claim you love me?”

Too late he saw the trap she’d set for him and panicked. “Mistress, I-I was—overcome, I—“

“Enough!” she ordered forcefully. “For this act of violence, that you claim was done for love—I banish you to the monastery of Shi Toh, until you learn the true meaning of love,” she finished coldly.

The crowed hummed at this news. “Is that a bad place?” Errico asked of Pietro after the judgment was translated for him.

“It’s very remote,” Pietro whispered back. “Surely a death sentence.”

Snow Feather stood abruptly and everyone in the room reacted, bowing while trying to keep an eye on where she was headed. “Take him away,” she ordered in disgust, over Shen’s pleas. Then she started to turn away, to her private chambers.

Errico darted away before Pietro and Lord Tian could catch him—but it wasn’t Snow Feather he headed towards, it was Shen. “Mistress!” he called out, and then his two handlers didn’t _want_ to pursue him further, as everyone turned in surprise to stare at him. Errico dropped to one knee beside Shen, bowing his head. “Mistress, please.” He knew his pronunciation of the few words he could speak was terrible, and he glanced up to see if Snow Feather was listening to him. The look on her face was not encouraging, but he plunged on anyway. “He love you,” Errico went on, gesturing at Shen. His verb conjugation was shameful but he trusted he was understood. “ _I_ love you. I know him.” That is, he knew what Shen was going through. “Please, be kind. For love.”

The speech was not going to win any awards for eloquence, but Snow Feather—and the rest of the court—could barely conceal her astonishment at it. “I will give this matter more thought,” she finally decided, causing even _more_ excitement in the crowd. Then she rushed away with her ladies before anything _else_ could happen.

The guards took Shen away and the courtiers broke up into small groups, chattering animatedly. Errico stood awkwardly, feeling all the stares on him, and tried to rejoin Pietro and Lord Tian, who looked as if they didn’t want to be associated with him. Indeed, they took off in different directions, and Errico decided to follow Pietro.

“What’s happening? What did she say?” he wanted to know.

“What’s happening is, you’re an idiot!” Pietro told him angrily, looking like a dog trying to shake a rat from his tail. Errico was a very persistent rat, though. “What did you think you were doing?!”

“I was trying to help,” Errico replied, with some distress. “I thought about how I would feel in his place… Did I make things worse?”

Pietro felt it was a little late to be weighing the consequences. But he was forced to admit, “She said she would think about it more.” Which could certainly go either way, but were he Shen, he would allow himself hope.

Errico grinned suddenly and clapped Pietro’s arm. “Good! I should go see her, she seemed very upset—“

“ _That_ won’t be a problem,” Pietro sighed, nodding towards Silver Fan, who caught their eye and gestured for them to follow her behind the throne to their mistress’s private chamber.

“ _What_ was the meaning of that?!” Snow Feather was demanding angrily as they entered. “Was this _your_ idea?” she accused Lord Tian.

“No, mistress, not at all,” he vowed.

She saw Errico enter and glared at him, wiping the smile from his face. “Was he sincere?” she asked Tian next.

“Isn’t he always,” the older man ventured to reply, exasperated.

Errico went to her anyway, despite the look of reproach she’d given him. “Mistress?” He raised his hands, clearly wanting to touch her, but he restrained himself—she didn’t always appreciate that when others were around.

She was always allowed to touch _him_ , though, and she reached up to rub his cheek with its exotic beard. “What an extraordinary creature you are,” she told him, knowing he probably couldn’t understand it. “He asks for mercy for his enemies. Perhaps we should not call _him_ the barbarian,” she remarked thoughtfully to the rest of the room.

“He can afford to ask for mercy,” Lord Tian offered. “He is not a leader.”

 _That_ was certainly true. Despite her emotional outburst Snow Feather did not have a gentle heart for those who had betrayed her. But her new barbarian favorite always gave her something to think about.

“Remove this necklace from me and put it on him,” she instructed her ladies, who hurried to the task. “Take him back to the Great Hall and give him a meal.” Let all her courtiers get a look at him with her mark of favor. “Shen and his family must relocate to Honshu,” she decided. A distant city, but not inhospitable. “Let it be known.”


End file.
